Illuminating the True Character of Whitey

Illuminating the True Character of Whitey Your first impression is usually a lasting impression. Always carefully assessing a person based on how they look, how they talk, and most importantly who they surround themselves with. In most cases, first impressions are fairly precise. In the classic short story, “The Haircut” by Ring Lardner, the barber Whitey reveals his sick sense of humor, his disregard for the feelings of other individuals, and his complete admiration of a less than valiant character. Whitey doesn’t bluntly disclose his detestable characteristic in casual conversation, but by his own form of an eulogy of a close friend. Whitey is a small-town barber who knows the business of every patron who comes into his shop. However, there was one man who stuck with him; Jim Kendall. He played harmless tricks on the townspeople and was loved by all. Or that’s what Whitey thought anyway. When Whitey reminisces on the stories Kendall would share at the barbershop he seems to put him on a higher pedestal than most. There is an adoration there that doesn’t seem to fit the type of person that Jim Kendall truly was. He was egocentric, pitiless, nefarious, and his jokes make that very clear.
One of Kendall’s “innocent” pranks was that whenever he was out of town selling some of his canned goods he would take note of signs with the names of any locals on them. Once he acquired a name, he would then direct a card their way with tales of their spouse’s infidelity. The cruelties of his cards were that none of his tales were true. “Of course, he never knew what really come of none of these jokes, but he could picture what probably happened and that was enough” (144). This shows the satisfaction that Kendall got from such an appalling joke. When Whitey talks about this certain prank, he sees nothing wrong with it. He almost seems to characterize it along with any other “harmless” prank. He called it one of Jim’s “great tricks” (144). The way Whitey talks about it he finds it comical and amusing, but in reality it is cruel and unnecessary.
One of the more harsh tricks that Jim had committed was directed towards the town beauty; Julie Gregg. Julie had turned down Kendall on many occasions, which was something he wasn’t use to. “He finally seen he wasn’t gettin’ nowheres with his usual line so he decided to try the rough stuff” (147). After reading this, then learning about Jim’s far more aggressive approach to catching Gregg’s attention is when I very seriously started to scrutinize the integrity of Whitey’s character. The way he described Jim’s “rough stuff” could definitely be a charge of attempted statutory rape, but Whitey brings it up in leisurely conversation while cutting someone’s hair. Most people would take that information as sort of a red flag about a person, but not Whitey, he still speaks highly of old Jim. Even after it was all done and word got out about what had occurred, all the boys in the barbershop made jokes. “…lots of people had tried to make a monkey out of him, but he always got even” (147). That was Whitey’s only response to all the jokes his barbershop buddies were making about Jim, like he knew Jim was going to make up for his most recent rejection. This should have been a sign to people that Jim wasn’t over his rejection, and that something worse was coming.
It wasn’t the revenge that Jim Kendall was planning that was the most surprising, but it was the reaction from Whitey, and how he relayed the story. After reading about the humiliation Julie Gregg suffered then hearing the way that Whitey communicated the information really proved that not only is his sense of humor dark, but that he doesn’t necessarily think or care about other people’s feelings. “Well, Jim waited till he had Doc Stair’s voice down pat; then he went after revenge” (148). Kendall used his talent to prank call Julie and pretend to be Doc Stair. He called up Julie and told her to “forget her manners for once and come to his office” (148). Naïve Julie made her way to his office to meet who she believed was Doc. Jim had already recruited a gang of a rowdy bunch to come and join him in his plans for the night. They waited outside of Doc Stair’s office in the stairway for Julie Gregg’s appearance. She was obviously crushed by how her night had turned out and embarrassed at that fact that her night had gone so public. “...Jim was still gloatin’ yet over what he’d done to Julie” (149). This shows that even a couple days after he hasn’t experienced any sort of remorse for what he had done. Yet again, this should have been a sign to Whitey that he shouldn’t idolize someone with so many flaws, but that doesn’t change his mind. Although, you do hear Whitey say “poor Julie” after he tells you about what happened to her, he still thinks that what Jim did was funny and all in good fun (149).
Jim Kendall not only plays with the emotions of the townspeople, but with his own family as well. After he and his wife had problems with who gets his paycheck, he decided that he needed to get even. “Well, he waited till Evan’s Circus was advertised to come to town. Then he told his wife and kiddies that he was goin’ to take them to the circus” (144). Instead of going to the circus, Jim went and got drunk and left his family alone at the circus with no money. Whitey and everyone else in the town knew how he treated his family, but yet Whitey still goes on in the story to say he misses him and looks back on all the “great jokes” he use to play on everyone. Whitey doesn’t just sit back and watch while Jim plays jokes on everyone else; he has been a victim to Jim in the past. Jim had pretended to be a widow who requested the service of Whitey to shave her husband before his funeral. “It didn’t take no private detective to figure out who has played me this little joke. Nobody could of thought it up but Jim Kendall. He certainly was a card!” (148). Whitey wasn’t even upset that Jim had him drive seven miles out in the country on the coldest day of the winter. Or the fact that he had pretended that one of his loyal customers was dead. Granted this is one of Jim Kendall’s milder jokes, but it still made Whitey go through a lot of trouble.
Not only does Whitey think Jim Kendall’s jokes are funny when they clearly hurt people, but he seems to truly admire this man. “I said it had been a kind of a raw thing, but Jim couldn’t resist no kind of a joke, no matter how raw. I said I thought he was all right at heart, but just bubblin’ over mischief” (150). This was Whitey’s remark to Doc Stair after Doc had said that Jim shouldn’t be let live because of the prank he played on Julie Gregg. Whitey is again sticking up for Jim in a time where he was wrong. He knows that his jokes can be “raw” but he still believes that Jim really does have a good heart (150). It would be hard for Whitey to back that up with Jim’s past. Nothing from his home life to his social life shows that Jim Kendall has any redeeming qualities about him. Whitey also seems to think that everyone feels the same way as he does, but that isn’t the case. In the beginning of this short story he talks about how Jim had a chair that he would sit in every Saturday. Well, if it so happens that someone would be sitting in that chair they’d get up and move because they knew it was Jim’s spot. Why do you think that is? Whitey seems to think it’s just because everyone knew it was Jim’s spot, which is true to an extent. They knew it was Jim’s spot, but they moved most likely because they were too afraid of what he would do if they didn’t.
Whitey didn’t only look back on the times of when Jim Kendall was alive, but he also kept a piece of him around in the barbershop. “Jim won’t need no shavin’ mug no more, but I’ll leave it there just for old time’s sake. Jim was certainly a character!”(143). Whitey knew Jim didn’t treat his family the way he should, he knew that he had a drinking problem, and Whitey also knew that Jim’s “great trick[s]” had the potential to seriously hurt someone (144). There is clearly a bond between the two men. Even so, Whitey makes the comment after Jim had been killed, that in a way he deserved what he got for being so dumb. Someone may misinterpret this and think that Whitey is finally realizing all the bad qualities that Jim possessed, but that would be incorrect. Whitey is simply just saying that if Jim was stupid enough to allow someone to fire his gun who had no clue what he was doing, then he had it coming. “It probably served Jim right, what he got” (150). However, afterwards he did quickly say Jim would be missed.
Whitey can admit that Jim could get a little carried away with his jokes, but many times he thought they were funny, even when he could see how they could potentially hurt someone. No one can deny the unexplainable admiration that Whitey had for this man. Jim Kendall was definitely a selfish and crooked man who always had revenge on his mind, but was Whitey any better? He may not have contributed to the horrible jokes that Jim had done, but he laughed about them and thought they were funny. Isn’t that bad enough? Just by Whitey talking about Jim to his other customers he reveals a lot about himself, and that he is a lot like his friend-- the late Jim Kendall.